Celebrate National Poetry Month in April at WSU Libraries

For National Poetry Month in April, Washington State University Libraries is sponsoring three weeklong activities during the month to celebrate all forms of poetry.

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers and poets celebrating poetry’s vital place in our culture, according to the Poets.org website.

Activities, to be held in Terrell Library, include the following:

• April 3-10 theme: “Spine Poetry.” Spine poems are photographs of poems created from book titles on the spines of a small stack of books. Visitors can hunt for titles in the library book stacks or their own bookshelves, build their poem, take a picture and send it to wsulibrariespullman@gmail.com or Twitter (@WSULibraries).
• April 11-18 theme: “Dada Poetry.” The Dada or Dadaist poem sprang from the European avant-garde art movement of the early 20th century, embracing all things nonsensical, experimental and surreal. Kits will be available for people to create their own Dada poems and post them on a display board.
• April 19-27 theme: “Poem in Your Pocket.” Visitors can pick up poems to take home or share them with others. Some suggestions: take two poems for your pocket and that of a friend; post a poem on Twitter (#pocketpoem); write or photocopy a poem and leave copies anonymously all over campus; and leave a copy of your favorite poem in the dullest book you can find as a treat for the next reader.

For more ways to celebrate National Poetry Month, visit http://www.poets.org/national-poetry-month/30-ways-celebrate-national-poetry-month.